Hitchcocks Forum

Finally managed to fit the "bash plate" yesterday and what a pallaver that was!

It needed "certain modifications", shall we say. I think when it was designed around an engine there can't have been a sump plug in it because the sump plug on mine fouled the inside by a few mm and prevented it fitting properly.

I had to cut a round hole to clear it (I believe Mr. H's bash plate is better and has this already cut out). Getting this in the correct place was quite tricky. Having done that (which wore out my hole saw despite using loads of cutting oil), I then had to alter the bend angle of the front of the plate and then all four lugs to get it to line up any where near. A shame and an annoyance because the powder coated finish looked very good - now it doesn't look quite so good, but then it's going to get bashed anyway. So far it's only been bashed with my lump hammer but it does look OK and is firmly attached.

One thing I noticed when I was doing this job. The footrest locating bar goes through a tubular spacer between two plates across the underside of the bike. Mine is loose. I suspect a washer or something must have gone astray and this probably explains why my footrests tend to rotate forwards when my weight is applied. Next job to sort that out, then I think I'm just about done.

I've found there to be a wide variety of those spacers. Some have one, some have two and some have three. There are also similar spacers on other engine mounts which can all get mixed up if you have the engine out. They vary between years and then it all goes out of the window if you fit an aftermarket sidestand.

I bought myself a length of reasonably thick-walled aluminium tube and made new ones throughout. Lighter and neater.

HOWEVER, that shouldn't let the pegs rotate, they are mounted on a hex bar in a hex hole. If they can rotate, the hex hole in the mounting plate is rounded out.



A guy was selling stainless engine plates on ebay for £23. I'l post a link because our hosts don't sell these ones in stainless (presumably because a hex hole is a royal pain in the backside to machine?). Maybe they should get in touch with him?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Royal-Enfiel ... Sw0J9bH6Vh

SW, Thanks for posting those photos, it makes things much clearer. As far as I know, the engine has never yet been out of this bike. If the hexagon holes are rounded out (it's quite possible this happened when I dropped the bike and snapped the threaded end off the left side of the mounting bar), I might have a go at fixing them with weld and file.

I've checked the parts list diagrams and it looks like there's no half inch spacer. This might now be sitting on a steep rocky byway in Derbyshire so I've just made one up and will fit it when/if it ever stops raining. I'm likely to be away from home most of this week with my job so I'm running very short of time. It will have to be done after the trial, which is on Saturday 5th October.

stinkwheel wrote:I've found there to be a wide variety of those spacers. Some have one, some have two and some have three. There are also similar spacers on other engine mounts which can all get mixed up if you have the engine out. They vary between years and then it all goes out of the window if you fit an aftermarket sidestand.

I bought myself a length of reasonably thick-walled aluminium tube and made new ones throughout. Lighter and neater.

HOWEVER, that shouldn't let the pegs rotate, they are mounted on a hex bar in a hex hole. If they can rotate, the hex hole in the mounting plate is rounded out.



A guy was selling stainless engine plates on ebay for £23. I'l post a link because our hosts don't sell these ones in stainless (presumably because a hex hole is a royal pain in the backside to machine?). Maybe they should get in touch with him?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Royal-Enfiel ... Sw0J9bH6Vh

SW

Could you confirm if its an easy job to replace the rear plates? IE without removing the box for access?

Reason I ask is I've bought some standard ones to replace the ones on the bike as where the centre stand hits they have recessed causing the stand to go further than it should leaving the bike very unstable?

Thanks

Phil

no need to remove the gearbox, just loosen the middel stud(under gearbox) and remove the 2 front ones and rear stud of the rear plates.

the stud from the gearbox will comme away whith the plates.

I'll give you a few bob for the old ones, Phil, I can probably get the worn bits built up with weld.

A.

Thinking about it, I wonder if you could get the worn section weld-refaced with the engine plates in situ? Depends how good a welder you can find and what sort of kit said welder has.

Those stainless steel plates look good, maybe just need a couple of centre stand spring anchors are needed for us tarmac types.

A.

It's easier to take the stand off than the plates. My mainstand has a length of flatbar welded on top of the round "crossbar" that hits the bump-stops to compensate for it tipping increasingly far forwards.

That said, if your stand is angled forwards and both wheels are on the road, it's probably the hole the pivot pin runs in ovalling.

Left to its own devices, the pin will rotate in the plates rather than the stand rotating on the pin (simple laws of friction). What I did after correcting the angle with the afore-mentioned bit of flatbar is to use a stiff piece of wire (a bicycle spoke as it happens) in place of one of the splitpins on the end of the pin. I wrapped one end of it up and round the spring stop so it prevents the pin rotating in the engine plate.

An old fix for ovalled mainstand holes is to fit an appropriate sized plumbing olive on either end of the pin.

While new engine plates are quite cheap, of course, there is always the temptation to fit new instead of repairing.

A.

mauri wrote:no need to remove the gearbox, just loosen the middel stud(under gearbox) and remove the 2 front ones and rear stud of the rear plates.

the stud from the gearbox will comme away whith the plates.

Lovely thank you

Adrian wrote:While new engine plates are quite cheap, of course, there is always the temptation to fit new instead of repairing.

A.

for £11 including delivery from a UK based Ebay seller its too good an opportunity to miss

Adrian wrote:I'll give you a few bob for the old ones, Phil, I can probably get the worn bits built up with weld.

A.

Price of postage will do Adrian will let you know when I've got them out!

May be a while though as garage time is non existent currently with our newborn taking up 100% of my time

I've had to beg steal and borrow to get enough man points for an afternoon out to ride over to the stafford bike show in a fortnight's time